Gay couple to use White House Easter event to confront Obama

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A gay couple plan to ask President Obama to sign an executive order banning workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation at Monday’s annual Easter Egg roll, which takes place on the White House lawn.

Jarrod Scarbrough and Les Sewell, from New Mexico, plan to take their 8-year-old daughter to the White House for both the Easter Egg Roll and to press Obama on the proposed executive order. If made law, the order would protect federal contractors from discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

“I work for a federal contractor, and there’s a piece of paper sitting on President Obama’s desk that would give me a little more security for my family,” said Mr Scarbrough, who works for United Healthcare.

“As so many families gather on the White House lawn next week, I hope that the First Family takes a moment to reflect on how hard gay families like mine work to ensure that we have the stability and security that so many others take for granted,” Scarbrough said. “My message — and the message of my family — echoes President Obama’s campaign slogan: We can’t wait. It’s time for President Obama to sign this Executive Order.”

Gay couples and their children have been invited to the White House to take part in the annual Easter Egg Roll event for a few years now – even President Bush invited over a hundred LGBT families to the event back in 2006.

The Egg Roll is a race where children push a hardboiled egg through grass with a long-handled club and dates back to 1878.

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